As we have noted previously, Bodin, Hobbes, Bentham and Austin conceptualized and formulated sovereignty in a legal sense. This refers to the legal and legislative supremacy of a person or a body of persons/legislature. Positive laws are commands of this person or body of persons, which carry legal sanctions behind it. In its legal sense, sovereignty overrides all other forms of laws and prescriptions including divine law, the law of nature, moral and traditional prescriptions and public opinion. In courts of justice, positive laws are generally recognized for administering justice. Thus, justice according to law is upheld by lawyers. We find the fullest exposition of legal sovereignty in the monist theory of Austin.
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